1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a transmission mainly to be used in the hydraulic power transmission system on an automotive vehicle, and more particularly to an improved transmission including a hydraulic power transmission device which can provide an alternative shift function to the stepless shifter which fails to perform its shift function when it is desired to restart the vehicle at rest, permitting a smooth restart of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a stepless shifter as an automotive vehicle's transmission has been proposed. It is known, however, that the stepless shifter presents disadvantages since the shifting cannot be accomplished easily or without difficulty when the vehicle is at rest. For this reason, after the vehicle has stopped with a lower reduction ratio selected in the stepless shifter, it is difficult to restart the vehicle smoothly because such lower reduction ratio produced a smaller torque at the restart time.